


Barry Allen’s Adventures In a Relationship

by Blossomdail



Series: Barry’s Adventures (Growing as a Person) [2]
Category: Justice League (2017)
Genre: 5 + 1 times, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Happy Ending, M/M, Miscommunication, Multi, Rating subject to change, There’s gonna be fluff and smut, Title also subject to change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-07-06 07:50:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15881715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blossomdail/pseuds/Blossomdail
Summary: The relationship is new and Barry doesn’t want to mess anything up. So even though there are problems, Barry just can’t bring himself to mention them. Until they bite him in the ass, of course.Or, the Five Times They Don’t Comminuicate And The One Time They Do.





	1. The Sleep Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I decided to add a part two to this series (though nobody asked for one) but I’m not sure if there will be a part three or not. Part two can read as a stand alone, but can also be read as a sequel to the first part. Let me know what you think, and you can also ask me questions at my tumblr (I’m more likely to respond there and you can see me posting about possible other work) : Blossomdail. Thanks so much!

Sometimes, when it’s late at night and he can’t sleep, he’ll wonder what if it’d be like if he never joined the Justice League. For one, he’d still be working three jobs trying to make ends meet. Two, he’d be so incredibly lonely. He didn’t have any friends. Now he has a few. 

Three, and perhaps the most important, he’d never have met Arthur. Well. He can’t say never. He doesn’t know if the Flash would have met Aquaman on some kind of hero thing sooner or later. But they wouldn’t be close like this. 

Arthur’s still asleep, as he should as it’s two am, and Barry’s snuggled into him. It’s cute but uncomfortable. Barry hasn’t quite worked up the courage to tell Arthur that while using his chest is cute in theory, it’s actually not practical and Barry doesn’t sleep very well on the nights Arthur sleeps over. 

It’s okay though. Because Barry loves Arthur, very much, and he doesn’t want to hurt his feelings so he doesn’t say anything, just snuggles into Arthur's chest and breathes in the smell of salt water. 

They wake up at 7 am in the morning, and Barry’s neck has a huge creek in it. It hurts like hell, and Arthur catches him wincing as Barry pulls on his lab uniform. 

“You sleep wrong?” Arthur pauses putting on his own jeans, and his stomach muscles flex as he straights up. It’s hot, but Barry’s neck hurts too much to think about it. 

Barry looks anywhere but him. He looks at his computers, his bed, his bean bag chair, his shoes scattered about, anywhere but at Arthur. It’s immature, he knows, but the relationship is still new, or it feels so new, and he really doesn’t want to mess anything up. Not yet. Not when they’re just getting over everything that happened.

“Nah,” Barry answers nonchalantly. “Just got caught up looking at you.” He grins, his tongue poking out, and it’s a little childish, and maybe Arthur would haven’t have let it go so soon, but Barry’s fast.

He’s on his knees, tugging down Arthur’s jeans and boxers, and blowing his breath on Arthur’s dick. Arthur moans, and the conversation is dropped for now, and Barry manages not to move his neck in a way that it hurts. 

A great feat, if you ask him.  
\-------  
After work, they head over to Bruce’s for family dinners. They aren’t as frequent as they used to, what with Clark and a six month pregnant Lois, or Diana and her frequent trips around the world. Arthur’s been busy with his kingdom. Something’s happening but he won’t share too much details. Victor’s been busy too, with Hal, and with his dad. 

Bruce, well, he’s Bruce. Sometimes it’s just Bruce, him, and a pile of cold spaghetti. It’s okay, though. Bruce doesn’t mind.

Tonight they’re all here though, and it’s not cold spaghetti but steaks and mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, mac n cheese. Good stuff. His neck still hurts but he’s distracted when Alfred places his three rare steaks in front of him. They’re delicious, and perfectly red inside. 

“I miss rare steaks,” Lois says as Barry bites into his first one. After the confused look Barry gives her, she smiles sadly and pats her belly. Oh. Right. “No undercooked meat for the baby.”

Clark kisses her cheeks and promises to bring her rare steaks as soon as the baby is born. It’s cute, really. 

Barry cranes his neck to look at them and then freezes. His whole body feels like it goes up in flames. The pain bubbles from the center of his neck to his side, moving fast and serious, like a train. 

The tiniest whimpers escapes his mouth. Victor, who sits on his right, notices it first. He turns towards Barry, and Barry so desperately wants him not to say anything. He begs him not to with his eyes. 

Victor’s not a people person. He’s not good on picking up social cues. 

“You alright, man?” 

Arthur turns then, his eyes narrowed. He knows Barry’s hiding something, he’s just not sure what. “Barry?” 

“I’m fine,” Barry squeaks. “Fine, really.”

Diana looks at him, too, but they’ve come to an agreement that Diana can not mother him. She can push him if she thinks it’s an emergency, but if he says he’s fine, or doesn’t want to talk about something, she can’t push.

Her eyes narrow but she doesn’t say anything.

“Really,” Barry adds. He pops a piece of his steak in his mouth. “S’good!” He nearly chokes on his food, because the pain in his neck makes it hard to chew, but also because he’s talking with his mouth full. 

Arthur snorts and gives him a small smile and Barry momentarily forgets about the pain. He smiles back, lips closed because he’s still chewing, and thinks that that’s why he doesn’t want to tell Arthur they really need to switch up their sleeping positions. Because everything is so good and light and happy, and it’s finally like that after being not, and he doesn’t want to risk ANYTHING, even something as trivial as sleeping positions. 

The rest of the dinner is torture, but dinner ends an hour later anyway, and he’s made it through. They’ve all been done eating for awhile, but they like to talk too, give little updates here and there. 

Louis is going on about the baby and Barry’s actually paying attention because he loves and respects Louis and he really can’t wait to see the baby. They want to be surprise on the sex, which is cool in theory, but Barry’s dying to know. He has a hunch to what it is though, but he’s not gonna say anything. 

Clark looks at Lois like she’s the light of his life. Like she’s the sun and he’s just the Earth revolving around her. 

Barry think’s that that is how he looks at Arthur. He turns to look at Arthur, but Arthur’s already looking at him. They both smile. 

\-----

Arthur doesn’t always sleep over. He has a kingdom to run, and it’s just impractical. But he decides to do it again, tonight, which is so sweet, but Barry’s dreading it all the way back home.

Home. That’s another thing. Barry doesn’t know if he would consider his little hold up home, but it’s nice and safe, and when Arthur’s there it’s his whole favorite place in the world. So maybe it’s home when Arthur’s there. Or maybe Arthur’s home, and Barry would go anywhere with him. 

Which is kind of ridiculous, because they haven’t even really been together that long. That’s okay. Barry has felt more for Arthur in the past few months than he ever had for anyone before. 

It’s as if Arthur can read Barry’s mind when he says, “Home sweet home,” and uses his copy of the keys to unlock the door. Barry suddenly really wants to have sex with him. Very much would like so. They barely step inside before Barry’s kissing Arthur. 

Arthur kisses back, surprised, but goes with it. He wraps his hands around Barry’s ass than hoists him up. Barry wraps his legs around Arthur’s waist and swings his arms around his neck. Arthur uses his foot to kick the door close, and then he’s tossing Barry onto the bed. 

Barry bounces, and his neck snaps up and he can’t help the cry that finally leaves his mouth. The pain flares up, starts at the bottom of his neck and then crawls around. It wasn’t this bad in the morning, but Barry’s been severely neglecting his pain all day, and now it’s even worse. 

Arthur rushes to him. He wraps an arm around Barry’s back and slowly eases him up. “Shit, Barry. Is it your neck?” 

Barry honestly might throw up, his neck hurts that much. Okay, not honestly, he really will. “Garbage,” he manages to get out. His cheeks turn green. Okay, yes, he’s going to throw up.

Arthur, thankfully, gets what Barry means and shoves the tiny garbage can under Barry’s mouth. It’s just in time, and Barry heaves up the steaks he just ate. It’s gross and he’s embarrassed Arthur is seeing him like this.

“God, kid.” Arthur rubs smooth circles into Barry’s back. “You should have said something.” 

Barry’s neck doesn’t feel any better now that he vomited, but the nausea goes away. He’s gonna need a heating pad and some pain killers. “Sorry.” 

He’s sheepish and embarrassed not sorry. Well he’s sorry Arthur caught him, but not sorry he didn’t tell Arthur. 

Arthur shakes his head and runs his hand through Barry’s hair. “Let me get you some water.” 

“And some advil, please,” Barry all but begs.

Arthur nods and goes to get the items. 

Well. There goes their night. Barry just completely ruined everything, didn’t he? Because now he has to say why he wasn't honest, and that means telling Arthur he’s dissatisfied with their sleeping positions, which, when it comes down to it, means he dissatisfied with part of the relationship, no matter how small it is.

“Here.”

Arthur holds the items in his hands. Barry takes them, drinks the water before popping in the advil, and tries not to cry as Arthur grabs the small basket and tosses the plastic bag into the bigger one in the kitchen, and then takes that bag outside. 

When he returns, he washes his hands than wets some paper towels to place on Barry’s forehead. “Do you have a hot water bottle or something?” 

Bary uses his right hand to gesture to the closest. “Heating pad is in there.”

Arthur grabs that and hooks it into the outlet by Barry’s bed. “Here.” He carefully wraps it around Barry’s neck.

At first, the weight of something on his neck hurts, but then the heat kicks in and Barry sighs in relief. The pain is still there, and he’ll probably need to see a chiropractor, but it’s better. 

“Why didn’t you tell me your neck hurt, Barry?”

And there it was, the million dollar question. Barry sighs. His stomach is starting to hurt. He really doesn’t want to have this conversation. He doesn’t want to hurt Arthur and risk messing anything up. 

Embarrassingly, he starts to tear up. God, he always cries when he’s upset, doesn’t he?

“Hey, none of that.” Arthur rearranges themselves so Barry’s laying down on his bed, heating pad on his pills, and Arthur lays next to him, carefully cuddled up in Barry’s side but avoiding his neck. He kisses Barry’s cheeks, going over the tears. It makes Barry laugh, which makes Arthur smile. 

“Barry, if you’re in pain, you gotta let me know.” 

Barry knows that he should too, and he usually does is the thing. If he’s hurt on a mission he always tells Arthur. He didn’t want to tell him his neck hurt because he didn’t want to explain WHY it hurt.

Realistically, he knows he’s being a bit overdramatic. But. He’s in a great place with Arthur. He really doesn’t want anything to come between them. 

“Barry.” Arthur adjusts the heating pad to get more heat to Barry’s neck. “Is there something else going on?” 

Damn. Arthur always finds out, doesn’t he? He’s a smart guy. A handsome guy. A good guy who Barry’s sure he loves, just not sure how to say it. Barry doesn’t want to lose him. 

But he should also tell Arthur the truth. Relationships need honesty. Lying to Arthur won’t be good in the long run, will it? Especially if he keeps sleeping badly because of it. 

“I don’t like our sleeping position.” At Arthur’s blank face, Barry continues on, blushing a bit at how that came out. “Or, I do. I really love it, actually. You’re so warm and you make me feel safe, but . . .” Here, he turns just a bit, facing Arthur. “I can never sleep when I’m curdled into you. Your chest is nice but it’s not a pillow. And sometimes I get too hot. And I can’t turn the way I need to. And like . . .” 

He trails off when he realizes Arthur’s smiling and trying not to laugh. “You’re laughing at me!” Barry accuses.

Arthur finally laughs. He laughs so hard he cries. “Barry, why didn’t you just tell me? Why hide it?” 

Which, thinking about it now, why did he think Arthur would react any other way? Did he think Arthur was gonna be mad? Yes. He didn’t want to risk anything. 

“I didn’t want to take the chance of you getting upset,” Barry admits. “Everything’s going so good . . . and it took so long to get here . . . I guess. Well. I don’t know. It’s stupid now.” 

Arthur shakes his head and plants a kiss on Barry’s head. “It’s not stupid. I can see where you’re coming from. But never be afraid to tell me anything, okay? No matter what it is, we’ll find a way that works for the both of us. A relationship needs compromise.” 

Arthur kisses Barry this time on the mouth, and Barry kisses back, relieved. When Arthur pulls back, Barry’s a bit disappointed. He really did want to have sex tonight. “Especially over something as simple as sleeping positions.”

They kiss again. Arthur licks into Barry’s mouth and Barry breathes back, arousal building in the pit of his belly. He won’t be able to do much though. His neck still hurts to move it. He doesn’t see himself doing much strenuous activities for at least a day.

Arthur must realize the same thing because he breaks the kiss and leans back into his pillow. “How your neck?” 

“Hurts.” 

Arthur snorts. “I figured. Hold on, wait . . “ Arthur adjusts himself so that he’s at the foot of the bed and his head’s close to Barry’s thigh. “Can I blow you?”

Barry nods, breathless. It’s not the best position for oral sex, but it’ll work. It’s really the only thing they can do tonight. His neck is really shot. 

\----

Afterwards, when they’re both tired and ready to sleep, Barry’s on his side, heating pad secured on top of his pillows, and Arthur’s on his side, but their middles are pressed together, cuddling as best as they can to make each other comfortable. 

It works. It’s truly the best sleep Barry’s got in a long time. He likes sleeping with Arthur, because Arthur really does make him feel safe. Safe and comfortable. 

It works for them.


	2. The Communication Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get out, college man, ya know? Thanks for everyone still reading and sticking with my very inconsistent updating schedule lol. Follow me over at infinitywar on tumblr. It's a Marvel blog (my side blog is pepperpottsstark) and I still to this day am not sure why I don't write Marvel fanfiction.

Things are okay, for the most part. Arthur seems like he has a lot going on, but they don’t talk about it. Arthur often doesn’t like to talk about his problems, but he does let Barry know he’s okay, and Barry lets him know that if they ever need to talk, Barry is ready to listen. 

Currently Arthur is back at his home, which Barry is used to by now. Arthur has a lot going on, afterall, and whatever’s happening down in his home place Barry’s sure he can handle it, and if he needs help, then Barry’s also ready for that, too. 

Today Arthur’s supposed to meet up with Barry for dinner, but Barry knows that Arthur might not show up. That’s okay, if he doesn’t. Arthur doesn’t exactly use his cellphone, and he’ll show up explaining the next day what happened. 

It’s a system that works for them. (At least, that’s what Barry tells himself.)

Around 9, Arthur still doesn’t show up so Barry knows he’s probably not coming. He sighs and orders two extra large pizzas then gets in his pajamas. He’s upset but he understands, and Arthur will explain everything tomorrow. 

His phone goes off and for a second he honestly thinks it’s Arthur before realizing, again, that Arthur doesn’t have a constant phone. It’s Clark-he sent a sonogram. ‘Last one before the baby arrives!’ says the message. 

Barry can’t help but smile. He’s so excited for the ‘superbaby’ as it’s been deemed. He and Clark are close friends and Clark regularly keeps him updated on the baby. Everything but the gender, as they want to be surprised. 

Barry’s just thinking about how he’d like kids one day, when there’s a knock on the door. Expecting it to be his pizzas he throws on a jacket over his pajamas and opens the door. It’s not the pizza though-it’s Arthur, bloodied and bruised, like he was hit by a freight train. 

“Sorry I’m late,” he says, and then promptly passes out. Barry just has enough time to catch him before he hits the floor. 

“Fuck.” Barry’s not exactly the strongest and Arthur is all muscles. He manages to drag him to the bed though, suddenly grateful for how small his place is.

What the hell happened? Arthur looks awful. His eye is almost swollen shut and his lip is busted open. His cheeks are covered in bruises as well as his torso. It’s ugly. 

Barry doesn’t have much of a first aid kit, but he grabs a washcloth and a bowl of water first. Thankfully, Arthur’s fully passed out and doesn’t flinch when Barry works on the small things first. The lip might need stitches but he gets the dried blood off first. 

There’s another knock and Barry curses. He sets down the cloth and quickly runs for the door. This time it really is his pizza. He passes the two 20s he has into the guy’s hand, even though his pizzas are only 29.72. 

“Thanks,” he says, then closes the door and practically throws the pizzas to ground in his hace to get back to Arthur. 

He starts back on the cuts. He patches up what he can, puts some cream here and there, but he probably needs stitches and to be checked out for internal bleeding. He grabs his phone and dials up Bruce. 

Thankfully, he answers after the third ring. Bruce doesn’t always answer him, typically only if Barry calls multiple times in a row so Bruce knows it’s an emergency. “Barry?”

“Bruce, hi. It’s me. Barry. You know that. Um, I have Arthur here. He’s passed out. He’s pretty bad. I don’t know what happened.”

“What? Barry? Slow down, slow down. What happened?” 

“I don’t know! He just showed up on my doorstep, bleeding and bruising. I tried to patch most things up, but it’s bad.”

“Okay. I’ll be over as fast as possible.”

“Thanks, Bruce. See ya soon.” 

He hangs up then tosses his phone. It’s still going to be awhile before Bruce shows up but Barry’s done all he can do. He has to wait now. He packs some bags for him and Arthur and then eats the first box of pizza.

Sometimes, Barry does have to admit that it fucking sucks to not what goes on in Arthur’s other live. Well, honestly, it’s not his other life. It’s his whole life that Barry only sees a very tiny part of. And he understands, really. He does. He just wishes he knew more of it. 

But, he understands. 

Bruce finally comes and with the help of Barry they manage to get Arthur into the backseat of the car. He’s still passed out, but he looks a tiny bit better than before. 

“Jesus,” Bruce says as he starts up the car. “I wonder what the hell happened?” 

“I wish I knew,” Barry admits, and if there’s some kind of double meeting to that, well, that’s nobody’s business but his.   
\----

It’s late when they reach the manor, but when Alfred comes out to get to Arthur, so does Diana. 

The shock must register across Barry’s face but he doesn’t say anything. Not his business and they have more pressing matters. (And often his assumptions are wrong anyway.)

They manage to get Alfred to the “hospital” wing. Of course, it’s not really a hospital but it’s been dubbed that because it’s where Bruce goes to get patched up by Alfred. It’s really not much of a room, a bed and an IV with a chair across from the bed and a connecting bathroom.

Alfred tuts but doesn’t say anything. He snaps on some gloves and opens up a gigantic first aid kit. Barry’s immediately hit with the stench of sterilization. It’s a smell he hates. It reminds him of his childhood, how every time before he was moved to a new foster home or the group home, he had to get checked out in the hospital.

Doctors probing him, the sympathetic looks, the cold case worker-Barry hated all of it. He stills hate hospital, and right now, the room is starting to smell and look very much the same as one. 

He tries to look at Arthur, keep his eyes on his boyfriend, but his head is starting to spin. Fuck, he really wants to know what happened. He doesn’t really know why it bugs him so fucking much but it does, it really does.

They’ve been in a relationship for so long and Barry knows almost nothing about Arthur’s past. Well, Arthur in general. He knows his favorite drink, knows what temperature Arthur likes to sleep in, what shitty TV shows he likes, his favorite toppings on pizza, how he likes his coffee, etc. 

He doesn’t know what’s going on in Arthur’s home. Barry barely knows about Arthur’s past, which is that Arthur was raised by humans and away from his home but did find his way home at one point. 

Alfred rubs some antibacterial cream on Arthur’s torso and Bruce leaves to get some clean clothes for him. Diana stands near Barry and smiles down at him. 

“Date night, tonight?” 

They did have an agreement that Diana can’t mother Barry, but these questions are okay. They’re more friend-like than mom-like, and Diana has been working on staying in her lane, for lack of a better term. She still does some things Barry doesn’t like, such as chastising the way Barry eats, or telling Barry he needs to keep his room at Bruce’s neater. When she asks her questions, sometimes it feels more like a mother waiting to hear how her son is doing, versus a friend talking to a friend. 

But this one is teasing like, with no bite behind it. 

Barry nods and wrings his hands together. “Supposed to be, anyway.” 

Alfred finishes with Arthur soon enough, gets him changed and better situated into the bed. Arthur doesn’t wake up once throughout the whole process. Everyone clears out of the room but Barry, who collapses into the armchair that has been graciously placed inside the room. It reclines, too, which is such an added bonus. 

Barry checks his phone once he settles into the chair and nairly curses at the time. It’s so late and Barry’s so tired but he wants to be awake for when Arthur finally wakes up. Now Barry knows how the rest of team felt when he got knocked out that one time. 

Remembering how thirsty he was when he did wake up, he grabs a plastic cup from the bathroom and fills it with tap water then sets it on the little bedside table. 

Arthur snores quietly in his sleep and despite the feelings Barry is arburing against him, he can’t help but smile. He really does like Arthur a lot, maybe even loves him, and although Arthur hides a lot of things from him, in the end, Barry can’t hold it against him too much. He can understand why Arthur wouldn’t want to share it with him. 

Barry sighs and settles back into the armchair and quickly falls asleep.

He dreams about his mom, what he remembers about her anyway. Pretty but petite but really nice. She wasn’t perfect, no moms are except for those one on those cheesy Hallmark movies. Sometimes she got mad over tiny things, and she had a habit of shutting herself out instead of talking through her problems, but she was generally a good mom. She loved Barry with all her heart and that was really all that mattered.

In this dream he’s four and he’s sitting in the hospital waiting room. Something is wrong, but he doesn’t know what. His mom was hurt, and his dad was in there with him. A doctor or a nurse maybe, (four year old Bary can’t tell) comes to get him, and they lead him into a dark clammy room with nothing but a hospital bed where his mom lays.

The room smells bad, as if they rubbed rubbing alcohol all over the walls. His dad stands next to his mom’s bed and smiles down at Barry. “Hey buddy. Come meet your baby brother.”

Barry’s scared. He doesn’t know why, but he’s scared. He absolutely does not want to go anywhere near his dad.

“Come on, Bar. Don’t be scared.”

He steps forward in tiny steps until he gets to his dad. He can’t help but notice his mom his not awake. She looks pale, and her eyes are closed. 

“Mom?” he asks, reaching a hand to touch her.

Barry’s dad stops him. “Look at the baby, Barry.”

He doesn’t want to, but he does. Inside the blankets is half formed fetus with the eyes open and roaming. Barry’s still screaming by the time he wakes up.

It takes him a minute to realize he’s not four years old, and he’s not in a hospital. He never was. His mom was never pregnant again nor did she die in a hospital. But Arthur is in the bed, thankfully not awoken by Barry’s scream.

He’s been having these weird dreams lately, dreams where his mother is dead but in a different way than the last and each dream is absolutely horrifying. He doesn’t know exactly why he’s having these dreams, but he thinks it’s because his dad is still in jail and he’s not anywhere closer to getting out. 

Arthur moves in bed and Barry sits up straight. Arthur slowly blinks his eyes open and groans. Barry quickly rushes to his side and gives him the plastic cup of water. “Here.” He covers Arthur’s hand with his own and helps him drink. 

Arthur drinks the whole cup then coughs weakly. “Am I at Bruce’s?”

Barry nods. “Hold on, I’ll get you more water.” He quickly fills the cup up with more tap water, and this time Arthur is able to hold the cup himself.

“Thanks,” he says and winces when he tries to sit up.

“Be careful,” Barry chastises. His heart pounds, still from his dream but also for the feelings he’s has towards Arthur. 

He’s so glad Arthur’s okay, but what if he wasn’t? What if he hadn’t gotten to Barry in time? Arthur is not just human and he heals quickly but it looked so bad. Barry was so scared. 

It must show in his face because Arthur grabs Barry’s hand and squeezes. “Hey,” he says. 

Barry gives a small smile and climbs into bed with Arthur. He faces Arthur and says, “Hey,” before laying his head on Arthur’s chest.

Arthur uses his hand that’s less damaged to run it through Barry’s hair. “I’m okay,” he promises.

‘But what if you weren’t’ Barry thinks, but can’t brings himself to say it. There’s a time and place for it but right now was not it. Maybe later, if Barry gets the courage to bring it up. For now, he’s okay with just lying on Arthur. There’s so much he wants to say, to ask, but there’s time for that later.

\----------

They carry on without really discussing what happened. It’s not what Barry wants but he doesn’t want to push it. His nightmares continues too, which is weird because he always used to get nightmares but now they’re constant, every night, and he’s not sleeping well. 

It’s not long before the super baby arrives, tiny, small, and beautiful. The day is rainy and the water sticks to the ground in an uncomfortable way, but the hospital is alive and vibrant, at least in the maternity wing.

The room they’re all squished in is small and a bit cramped, but alive, with Winnie the Pooh characters on the wall and the sun shining through the windows. Lois lays on the hospital bed with Clark standing next to her IV bag and they both don’t seem to mind everybody squishing into the room and holding the baby. In fact, Clark seems more than happy to show her off, a proud look on his face anytime somebody cooes or smile down at her. Which is all the time, of course.

Her name is Lara Kara, a fun name to say Barry thinks, named after Clark’s biological mother and cousin. (Barry assumes Kara is his biological cousin, of course. Barry hasn’t met Supergirl, but she’s related to Superman, who is Clark, so of course it makes sense that Kara would be Supergirl.)

“I didn’t really have names to think of,” Lois says, adjusting herself to sit up against the bed, “and I actually suggested Kara. It was fun to say with Lara,” she laughs.

Clark smiles softly before turning to Bruce. In a low tone that holds so much meaning to it, he says to Bruce, “We thought we’d leave Martha for you.”

Bruce startles, just a little. He blinks, clearly trying to hold back tears. Barry gets it. He really does. “Thank you,” he says. 

Barry knows Bruce has sons and no daughters, but maybe one day he would, maybe one day he would want to name her after his dead mother. Barry knows how much Clark wanted to name his daughter after his mother Martha. He never said anything, but Clark loved Martha so much. 

But Martha Kent was alive. Martha Wayne was not. 

Barry’s heart warms so much and he can’t help but peek at Arthur, who Lois just handed the baby to. The way Arthur looked at Lara made Barry think that maybe . . . well maybe one day Arthur could look down at his own child like that. His and Barry’s child. 

Not now, but later, maybe a few years from now. There were some things they really needed to talk about first. 

The rest of the day is really nice, filled with pictures and food and a lot more people. Kara, Clark’s strangely attractive cousin shows up. She’s a pretty blonde, tall and muscular, with glasses like Clark.

“Lara Kara?” she asks once she finds out the name. She mouths the words around in her mouth before an adorable smile lifts up her face. “Aw, baby cousin!”

Which just confirms that she’s Supergirl, but that she also knows about all of them. Which is fair, Barry guesses. 

“I’m older,” Clark protests, shaking his head.

“Only by weird time dimensions.” 

“Still older.”

“I was born first!”

Clark sighs. “I’m starting to regret naming the baby after you.” But he finally hands Kara the baby, who clearly hasn't had a lot of practice with babies before but adapts naturally.

“Awwwww.” She blows a rasphberry in the baby’s face who smiles but does nothing else. “Kara Jr,” Kara coos.

“Absolutely not!” Clark shouts into the laughing room.

\-----

They get home from the hospital late at night, and Barry’s absolutely exhausted but he’s happy. Who doesn’t get happy around babies? Barry loves babies. He definitely wants a couple one day.

Once they close the door, Arthur wraps his arms around Barry from behind him, and presses a kiss into Barry’s neck.

Barry angles his neck into it so Arthur has more access. Arthur hums against his neck and starts to press more kisses. Barry moans and arches into it, feeling the stirrings of arousal. 

“Been awhile,” Arthur grunts, sucking Barry’s skin into his mouth, biting gently then running his tongue over it.

“Yes,” Barry agrees, it’s been far too long, hasn’t it?

They make quick work of their clothes before falling naked onto Barry’s bed. Arthur wraps his hand around Barry’s cock and uses his thumb to smear the precome around the tip.

Barry moans and arches into Arthur’s hand. 

“Fuck,” he swears. “I mean, fuck me.”

Arthur swears, and then they do fuck, fast and hard against Barry’s bed. It really has been a long time, and it feels good to just be connected with Arthur this way. 

When they come, they do it together, and Barry almost sobs out that he loves him but stops himself, instead trying to just be in the pleasure of it all. 

Afterwards they lay next to each other and try to catch their breaths. Arthur hums and presses into Barry, giving him a quick peck, and then promptly falls asleep. 

Barry sighs.

This time, he’s at a park and he’s 12. It’s sunny out but nobody is at the park but him and his dad. Which can’t be right because his dad was already in jail by the time he was 12.

“Let’s go swing,” his dad prompts and Barry wants to protest, because he’s far too old for his dad to be pushing him on swings.

But . . he sees his mom! The swings are all the way across the park but he can see a woman swinging from all the way where he and his dad is standing. 

He knows it’s his mom. He can’t see her face but he knows it’s her. He takes off, but something is wrong-he’s trying to run but it feels like his feet are stuck in cement. He tries to move but it takes forever. 

When he finally is close enough to see the woman’s face, he stops. The woman’s eyes were gone, replace with just eye sockets that had worms crawling out of them, and the nose was also gone, replaced with just a hole.

Barry screams, and screams, and wakes to Arthur on top of him and shaking his shoulders. 

“Barry!”

Barry gasps. “Wha-I- Oh my god.” Barry starts shaking. 

“Shit, hold on.” Arthur gets out of bed, naked, a sight Barry would usually appreciate, but really couldn’t even process.

Arthur grabs a bottle of water and tosses it to Barry. Barry takes a few sips but stops because he might throw up. 

For a moment, nobody talks. There’s just the sound of Barry trying to catch his breath. 

“Are you okay?” Arthur finally asks as he slowly comes to sit next to Barry on the bed.

“Just a nightmare.” Barry takes a few more sips of water but can’t seem to catch his breath. He’s not used to Arthur being there when he has these nightmares. 

“About?” Arthur prompts. 

“Nothing,” Barry lies, running his hand across his forehead. It’s clammy and sweaty. He really doesn’t feel well. 

“Barry, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.”

That just pisses Barry off because didn’t Arthur JUST come home bloodied and bruised and didn’t say what happened? Doesn’t he have so much going on at home that he won’t tell Barry? 

“Funny for you to say,” Barry says before he can help it, then pauses because he’s not a teenager, he’s an adult, and he needs to talk through this issue. 

Arthur gets again up and stands across from Barry, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow which is funny because he’s still naked. “What does that mean?”

Barry takes a deep breath and clutches the blanket against him. This talk was bound to happen, and they needed to talk about it, but it doesn’t mean Barry wanted it. He feels tears coming on but stops before he releases them. 

“Why don’t you ever tell me what’s going on with you?” 

A flash of shock runs across Arthur’s face. He doesn’t say anything at first, instead opting to pull on some pants. When he finally is done taking his sweet time, he says, “What do you mean?”

Barry pinches the bridge of his nose and breathes slowly. He doesn’t like slow but some situations call for it, like this one now. “Can you please not pretend like you have no idea what I’m talking about? You know what I’m talking about. Everytime you come here because something’s going on at home, or you’re battered and blue, you never mention what’s going on.” 

Barry let’s the blankets drop, glad he’s in boxers. He thinks that now probably wasn’t the best time to talk it out but they needed to. Because Barry’s hurt. And he hasn’t realized how hurt he’s been because he’s been trying like hell to push it down and ignore it but it hurts. 

How can Arthur want to be with him but not want to actually be with him? 

“Arthur, I barely know anything about you. It’s like you’re trying to separate me from everything else in your life. Why is that? Are you ashamed?” The minute he says the word, he chokes. Barry hadn’t thought about it before but could it be a possibility? Was Arthur ashamed?

“Aw, kid.” Arthur sighs and rubs a palm over his face, then finally sits back down to Barry. He flips it though, so that he’s lying down on his back, and then pulls Barry into his chest.

Barry closes his eyes and breathes in the warmth. Arthur’s body runs in weird temperatures, but so does Barry’s, and being with Arthur like this always calms him.

“I’m not ashamed of you, Barry.” Arthur pauses and rubs his fingers through Barry’s hair. “It’s just that, when I’m with you . . . It’s different. I don’t have to worry about what’s going on back home because I have you.” Arthur tilts Barry’s head up so they can look at each other. “You’re my space where I can just forget everything, and I don’t want to ruin it by talking about things.”

“And I get that.” And he really does. “But when you don’t want to talk about things with me, it makes me feel like you don’t think I’m important enough to know what’s going on with you.”

Arthur is silent again. To Barry, it looks like he’s carefully trying to figure out the wording of his next sentence before speaking it.

“Barry, I will start to fill you in on things, but keep in mind humans aren’t supposed to know about my land, and you and the others knowing could cause major issues if it ever gets out.”

Barry opens his mouth to protest but Arthur pushes on. “BUT- I trust you and you do deserve to know what’s going on in my life . . . just like I deserve to know what’s going on with yours.”

Barry angles his neck to glance up, confused, but he knows Arthur is talking about the nightmares. “What do you mean? You know all about me.”

It seems like Arthur wants to push the subject but doesn’t know how to. “Barry, have you considered these nightmares you’re having might be related to the stress going on in your life?”

And now Barry gets it. He absolutely does not want to talk about the nightmares, but how can he say that when he’s begging for Arthur to talk about something he doesn’t want to talk about?

Arthur must see the panic look on Barry’s face because he’s quick to say, “How about we talk about everything tomorrow? It’s very late and it’s been a good day, let’s not ruin it.”

Tomorrow sounds a lot better than right now, Barry thinks, because while he’s dying to know what’s happening with Arthur, he’s very reluctant to talk about the nightmares. But a good relationship needs communication and needs to be equal, so it’s something they do need to talk about. However, Arthur’s right; tomorrow sounds better.

“Tomorrow sounds good.” 

Arthur hmms and leans down to kiss Barry. The kiss is sweet and warm, something that Barry can easily melt into. He kisses him back slowly, feeling his belly grow tight and warm. Arthur slowly licks into Barry’s mouth, and Barry sighs into the kiss. 

One of Arthur’s hands comes to rest on Barry’s shoulder and grips, using just the right amount of pain Barry likes, causing him to break the kiss and moan. Arthur pulls Barry on top of him and the new angle gives better access to each other.

This time, when they fuck, it’s slow and emotional, a release of all the feelings they went through tonight. It’s a bit messy and there are some tears involved, but it’s a sign that things are going to be okay.


End file.
